Former IPS officer Kiran Bedi joins BJP; will contest Delhi polls

New Delhi: Former Team Anna member Kiran Bedi today joined BJP and will contest the February 7 Delhi Assembly polls, a move seen as the party's effort to contain Aam Aadmi Party in the national capital.

The 65-year old former IPS officer was inducted into the party fold in the presence of BJP President Amit Shah and Union Ministers Arun Jaitley and Harsh Vardhan, triggeringspeculation that she may be in the race for Chief Ministership if BJP wins the polls.

Kiran Bedi

When asked whether she will be the party's Chief Ministerial candidate, Shah said party's Parliamentary Board will take a call on the issue after election results are out but added that her induction will "hugely strengthen" the Delhi unit.

He also announced that she will contest the polls but declined to answer whether she will be pitted against her former Team Anna colleague Arvind Kejriwal in the prestigious New Delhi constituency.

"A decision about her constituency will be taken later. Bedi's constructive contribution will play an important role in ensuring that BJP lives up to the expectation of the people in the election and in any future government" Shah told a press conference at the party's headquarters.

Describing her as an able administrator who has been a crusader while in government and outside it, Jaitley said the party had been in touch with her for sometime and her joining it will make the party stronger.

"She has experience in governance and enjoys a credible image. She is associated with certain values. She has been a crusader in government as well as outside it for a long time," he said welcoming her to BJP.

Bedi, in her speech, pitched her leadership credentials and said she knows "how to work and how to make others work".

"I joined BJP due to the inspirational leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Delhi needs a strong, clear headed and stable government. We have to make it capital number one in the world," she said.